From around 1850 to 1900, a talented artist was busy painting all those stately portraits of — well, not all, but mostly — ugly and fat, or ugly and thin, rich Pampango dons and donas, senoritos and senoritas, in mostly vertical but also curiously horizontal modes [ “memento mori” ]. When not busy with portrait commissions, he was occupied painting murals in several Pampanga churches like Bacolor and Betis. His name was Simon Flores y de la Rosa and he was from Paco, Manila and he had married a Pampanguena named Simplicia Tambungui y Pineda from Guagua town [ what an authentic “Queni” surname, you can’t get more Capampangan than that!!! ].

Almost every “bahay na bato” mansion of a “principalia” family in every town of Pampanga had an oil portrait or a painting by Simon Flores. Predictably, the greatest numbers were in the old, principal towns of Bacolor, Mexico, Guagua, and San Fernando.

There were predictably many Simon Flores portraits and paintings in the capital town of Bacolor.

One of the earliest known works of Simon Flores, dated “20 de Mayo 1862,” painted when he was all of 23 years old, is the still-extant portrait of Olegario Rodriguez [ o 1806 – + 1874 ], patriarch of the still-flourishing Rodriguez clan of Bacolor, when the subject was “56 anos.” Olegario Rodriguez was depicted wearing the European black coat with tails, embroidered “nipis” shirt [ of “pina” or “jusi” fabrics ], and trousers of a “principalia,” seated on a Biedermeier-style armchair, with his arm resting on a grooved marble top table, which 128 years later until the lahar flows of 1991, still stood in the center of the “sala” of his own house. The portrait is with Rodriguez descendants in Manila.

A noteworthy and famous pair of Simon Flores portraits, the spouses Jose Leon Santos and Ramona Joven y Suarez, both of Bacolor, now hang in the “sala” of the “Museo De La Salle” in Dasmarinas, Cavite, created by their great great grandson Jose Maria “Joey” Yaptinchay-Abad Panlilio. One vividly remembers the comic story of Joey Panlilio, as related by his grandmother Luz Sarmiento de Panlilio, of how her husband Jose “Pepe” [ Joey’s grandfather ], an aristocratic bon vivant who always preferred the very latest in lifestyle fashions, “thoroughly disliked and was frankly embarrassed by those old, outmoded paintings” during the prewar and relegated them to obscure corners in the ancestral home in Bacolor, installing fashionable, framed large photographs and hand-colored “foto-oleos” in their place.

In the Buyson-Angeles ancestral home, the most social residence in Bacolor prelahar, hung a Simon Flores portrait of the distinguished patriarch, Julian Buyson y Cunanan of Baliuag, Bulacan.

The rich, Chinese mestizo-dominated town of Guagua, Pampanga was burned to the ground during the war. Most of the imposing “bahay na bato” mansions of the town’s richest citizens, both the Chinese and the Spanish mestizos — David, Limson, de Mesa, Valenzuela, Velez, Infante — lining the plaza were destroyed, and with them, what was surely a fine group of portraits and paintings by Simon Flores, for his wife, Simplicia Tambungui y Pineda, was a native of Guagua town.

There were also several Simon Flores portraits and paintings in the town of San Fernando. For starters, around 1875, three prosperous, landowning and trading Quiason y Cunanan brothers, Cirilo, Lucio, and Pablo, commissioned imposing family portraits from the artist. The most beautiful and elegant of the three was the one of the Cirilo Quiason family. Cirilo was painted with his wife Ceferina Henson y David, their second son Aureo, and third son Jose. It was painted in 1875 and Simon Flores charged 50 pesos a head in gold coins, totaling 200 pesos. Simon Flores sketched their faces in their home, brought their clothes to his house, and in a month he presented the finished painting to them. It was in poor condition when it was sold in the early 1980s by the Quiason descendants to Governor Jaime Laya on behalf of the Central Bank of the Philippines. On the other hand, Lucio or Pablo Quiason was depicted with his wife, daughters, and even mother-in-law in a rather cramped composition. It is now in the Leandro V. Locsin collection and was expertly repaired by the restorers of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The third Quiason family portrait is believed to be lost or to have been destroyed during the war.

In Porac town, Simon Flores painted the Spanish mestizo patriarch and wife of the rich Gil family [ whose descendants are the beautiful actresses and handsome actors Rosemarie Gil, Mark Gil, Michael de Mesa, and Cherie Gil ]. The portraits were lost postwar. In the “capilla” chapel of the house was Flores’ “La Virgen Maria,” his interpretation of an Italian Madonna. It was acquired by the architect-collector Luis Araneta who hung it over his bed; it was acquired from Araneta in the early 1980s by the ubercollector Paulino Que.

In the town of Mexico were many portraits and paintings by Simon Flores. I will never forget the Simon Flores portrait of the buck-teethed Saturnino Hizon y David, dressed in a blue and white striped “pina” barong; I could never get over his buck teeth which could have used the services of a good orthodontist. He married three times because he was widowed twice: first to Maria Cuison, then to Adriana Tizon, and finally to Cornelia Sison. His third wife was also painted by Simon Flores. The portraits, expensively restored, are now with Hizon descendants in Manila. Saturnino Hizon y David and his three wives had many children and many descendants. I remember seeing his very beautiful and exquisitely chased silver “platilla para buya” / “buyera,” marked “S H D ,” in the bedroom of an important Makati collector.

Also in Mexico town, Simon Flores painted a diminutive full-length portrait of the long-haired — as in floor length — Miguela Henson in front of her Isabelina-style dresser. It is now in the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas collection. I was always amused by the little portrait of Miguela Henson since she looked so much [ almost a carbon copy! ] like my Mommy’s good friend, Tita Belen Henson-Lazatin Garcia-Diokno [ a pioneering Filipina psychiatrist ], who, somewhere along the way, must also be a descendant of Miguela Henson through the Hizon-Henson-Lazatin line of Mexico town.

In the town of Santa Ana, Simon Flores painted the pretty Andrea Dayrit. Her portrait hung in the 1840s Dizon house, famous in its time for its late Neoclassical and English Regency architectural details.

In Arayat town, Simon Flores painted the Spanish mestizo hacendero Jose Berenguer y Flores and his wife Simona “Munit” Linares y Reyes; they are with Berenguer descendants in Manila. He also painted the Spanish mestizo hacendero Lino Cardenas Reyes and his wife Raymunda Soriano. “Capitan Lino” and “Capitana Munda” Reyes were famous in their time during the 1880s – 90s for their “fiestas” — elegant meals [ “desayuno,” “almuerzo,” “cena” ], “bailes,” and gambling — which lasted for weeks on end where the Spanish mestizo elite of Pampanga and Manila were invited [ remnants of their affluent life like Limoges china, Baccarat crystal, and silver “paliteras” toothpick trees in the form of birds amidst shrubs are still with Reyes descendants in San Francisco, USA ]. The Simon Flores portraits were destroyed when the Reyes-Soriano house in the poblacion burned down in the great fire that devastated Arayat in 1928, when all of the “bahay na bato” mansions lining its “Calle Real” were turned to ashes.

Adjacent to Arayat, in Candaba town, Simon Flores painted two doyennes of the “principalia” landowning class: the severe-looking Severina Ocampo de Arroyo and the corpulent Quintina Castor de Sadie, nicknamed “Fat Woman from Candaba.” They were in the collection of technocrat banker Manoling Dizon but he sold them to the Central Bank in the early 1980s because he wanted to concentrate on contemporary Filipino art.

In the southernmost town of Apalit, in the affluent barrio of Sulipan, Simon Flores executed several portrait commissions from the richest families in that town. In the Escaler-Sioco house, there was a pair of portraits of Matea Rodriguez y Tuason wearing a black “traje de mestiza” with considerable jewelry and her second husband Juan Arnedo Cruz y Tanjutco wearing a silver encrusted “salakot.” There was a portrait of her elder daughter Sabina Sioco y Rodriguez [ 1858 – 1950 ] as a young lady wearing a “traje de mestiza.” The three portraits disappeared in the early 1970s and presumed stolen and sold; they were supposedly brought to the Escaler hacienda in Barrio Cansinala but they disappeared while in transit. There was also a portrait of the Sioco progenitor Josef Sioco [ 1786 – 1864 ] in his 40s by an early painter, thought to be by Severino Flavier Pablo of Manila; it is with Gonzalez descendants in Manila. In the Arnedo-Sioco house, Flores painted the two daughters Maria Ignacia “Titay” [ 1872 – 1964 ] and Ines [ 1876 – 1954 ] as children wearing “traje de mestiza” in the 1880s. It disappeared in the mid-1960s and presumed stolen and sold. In the Gonzalez-Sioco house, there was a portrait of the matriarch Florencia Sioco y Rodriguez [ 1860 – 1925 ] as a young lady wearing a “traje de mestiza.” The portrait was destroyed when the house was bombed by the Americans in 1942.

During one of those madly delightful and delightfully mad evenings high up on Ayala Avenue…

“See, even the ladies are happy to see you!!!” Teyet declared as we walked through his “bibliothek” with its antique leatherbound books, ivory “santo” hands for wall sconces, and oil portraits of society doyennes plastered on the ceiling. Finally, we had come upon the celebrated portrait of the beautiful Filomena Asuncion de Villafranca, painted by her uncle Justiniano Asuncion y Molo, sometime from the 1860s-70s, which conventionally hung on the wall just before his bedroom door.

In a gesture of overexcitement, “Filomena Asuncion de Villafranca” jumped off the wall and crashed to the floor. Oh-my-God. Jo Panlilio and I gasped in distress.

“See, even Filomena is excited to see you!!!” Teyet declared.

Ever nonchalant, Teyet casually picked up the celebrated masterpiece, banged it on the wall before hanging it, and told “Filomena”: “Behave!!!”

Some of the most beautiful and alluring mementos of 19th century Manila came from the hand of maestro Justiniano Asuncion. The surviving oil portraits of the Asuncion ladies Romana Asuncion de Carillo, Filomena Asuncion de Villafranca, and of the Paterno ladies Carmina Devera Ignacio y Pineda, Teodora Devera Ignacio y Pineda, Dolores Paterno y Devera Ignacio, and Agueda Paterno y Devera Ignacio all speak of a long-gone Manila of affluence, grace, refinement, and elegance which in actuality coexisted with the greater truths of poverty, squalor, struggle, and desperation of the late Spanish colonial period.

While it was only natural that maestro Justiniano Asuncion painted the female members of his family, other portrait commissions came by way of extended family, as in the case of the several (Paterno) portraits commissioned by his maternal first cousin, Capitan Maximino Molo Agustin Paterno. Justiniano’s mother, Maria de la Paz Molo, was a daughter of Ming Mong Lo, the progenitor of the rich and prominent Paterno and Asuncion families of Binondo and Santa Cruz. The latter’s son and Maria de la Paz’s brother, Paterno Molo de San Agustin, married Miguela Yamson y de la Cruz. Paterno Molo de San Agustin became a very successful entrepreneur and he laid the business foundations of the Paterno fortune. One of their sons was the exceedingly Hispanized Maximino, who became “capitan” of barrio Santa Cruz and nearby barrio San Sebastian. Maximino adopted the compound surname Molo Agustin Paterno and was followed by his siblings. He had the fate of marrying three times and burying all his wives, all of whom were related by blood and belonged to prominent jewelry manufacturing and trading families of barrio Santa Cruz, Manila. Capitan Maximino Molo Agustin Paterno y Yamson first married Valeria Pineda, then her paternal first cousin Carmina Devera Ignacio y Pineda, and last, Carmina’s younger sister Teodora Devera Ignacio y Pineda. Teodora passed away in 1895, Maximino followed 5 years later in 1900.

Two of the most popular Bautista descendants are former Senator Ramon Revilla Sr. and Senator Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr..

CAVITE NUEVO [ CAVITE CITY ].

ALONSO.

ANTONIO.

BALLESTEROS.

BASA.

BERNAL.

CONCHU.

DE OCAMPO.

INOCENCIO.

JAVIER. In the early 1980s, Victoria Desbarats de Burke – Miailhe [ Mme. Edouard Frederic Francois Miailhe of Bordeaux, France ], accompanied by Placido “Don” Escudero Jr., traveled to the Kawit church, perused the 1800s birth registry, and came across her ancestress named Eustaquia Javier. Eustaquia Javier seemed to be a sister of Bonifacio Javier, ancestor of Claudia Marasigan [ y Javier ] de Escudero, matriarch of the Escudero-Marasigan clan of San Pablo, Laguna. Victoria Miailhe recalled that according to her mother, the Escuderos of San Pablo, Laguna were the only living relations of the Desbarats de Burke family, formerly of Manila.

ROJAS.

GONZALEZ.

The Gonzalezes of Cavite City (the only “Doble Zeta” Gonzalezes of Cavite City) are all descendants of Alfonso Moreno de Arco (a Spanish naval officer from Sevilla) and Leonora Tan Siateco (a Chinese mestiza from Sangley Point in Cavite Puerto). Their marriage produced one child — a son named Lorenzo Gonzalez. Lorenzo took the surname of his godfather (it was a habit of some families to have their children take the surname of their godfathers — like Jose Rizal, whose father was really a Mercado).

Lorenzo Gonzalez married Josefa Jacobe — also a Spanish-Chinese mestiza.

The Gonzalezes had 9 children. Among the children were: Lorenza, Concepcion, Fraternidad, and Natividad. Among their relations in Cavite City were the Osorios (among them, Natividad Osorio who married Francisco Aguinaldo whose children included Frannie Aguinaldo, wife of Ramon “RJ” Jacinto) and the Tironas (among them Francisca Tirona-Benitez whose children included Senator Helena Z. T. Benitez).

Lorenza married Jose Basa of the patriotic Basa clan. Their children included Tomas (who migrated to the U.S.), Jose (whose daughter, Lorraine, is married to Mark Puyat), Josefina (who is the widow of newsman Bing Torres who, in the 1970s, was editor of the Manila Bulletin and the Times Journal and president of the National Press Club), and Teresa (wife of Gaizka Garamendi whose children include equestrienne Teresa Garamendi-Hernandez [wife of Ayala Land executive Javier Hernandez] and Anna Garamendi-de Venecia [wife of Mark de Venecia who is the son of Oscar de Venecia]).

Concepcion married Julian Cacha also of Cavite Nuevo. Their daughter, Virginia Cacha-Montano, was the first lady of Cavite (wife of Cavite’s longest serving Governor, Delfin “Empin” Montano who was the son of Senator Justinano Montano of Santa Cruz de Malabon [now known as Tanza, Cavite] and his wife Ligaya Nazareno of Naic, Cavite).

Fraternidad Gonzalez was a spinster. She was an educator who, until her death in the 1960s, was the Dean of the Philippine Women’s University.

Natividad married Dominador Nazareno (a nephew of Ligaya Nazareno-Montano). The Nazarenos had 5 children. Among them were Antonio, Dominador Jr., Arturo, Mario, and Corazon. Antonio (or Tony) was married to Victoria Vizcarra Amalingan. They were avid art collectors and lived in North Forbes with their 5 children — among whom are Antonio Jr. (now married to Cristina Aurelio Oben daughter of Rey Oben and Tessie Aurelio [the family that owns Wallem Shipping; Rey Oben was the son of the Dean of the UST Faculty of Law in the 1940s-1960s while Tessie Aurelio was from the family who owned Hotel Aurelio]), Cathy (now married to Ramon Victor Cojuangco Rivilla — son of the late Luis Tirso Rivilla and his widow, Lourdes Cojuangco-Rivilla), Rita (formerly a producer for Fox TV and NBC TV; one of the first Filipinas to win an Emmy Award), and Marv (married to Joao Feria Miranda — son of Chuki Feria-Miranda [daughter of the writer Dolores Stephens]).

Dominador Jr., a former congressman from Cavite City, now resides in the United States with his family. He is married to Foederis Alonso Arca.

Arturo is married to Encarnacion “Girlie” Cuyegkeng — daughter of the late Dr. Alfonso Cuyegkeng and Trinidad Casas-Cuyegkeng (the Casas-Cuyegkengs were an old Ermita family whose roots trace back to Biñan, Laguna as they were relatives of the Mercados of Biñan). Mario was married to Piat “Pearlie” Crisologo — daughter of the late Floro Crisologo (Congressman of Ilocos Sur) and Carmeling Crisologo (former Governor of Ilocos Sur).

OSORIO [ with one “s” ].

TRIA TIRONA.

IMUS.

TIRONA.

TOPACIO.

VIRATA [ originally BAUTISTA ].

According to family members, the original family name was Bautista. Sometime during the 1896 revolution, a forebear changed the surname to Virata, taking the name of the character King Virata from the Indian epic “Mahabharata.”

Leonides S. Virata was one of the most distinguished men of his generation.

Cesar Enrique Aguinaldo Virata. He became the prime minister during the Marcos administration.

Cesar Aguinaldo Virata is a nephew of Leonides Sarao Virata. Cesar’s father Enrique Topacio Virata [ married to Leonor Aguinaldo ] was the elder half-brother of Leonides Sarao Virata.

BACOOR.

ANGELES.

CUENCA.

DASMARINAS.

CAMPOS.

NOVELETA.

ALVAREZ.

SAN FRANCISCO DE MALABON [ GENERAL TRIAS ].

TRIAS.

VINIEGRA.

FERRER.

NAIC.

NAZARENO.

Dominador Nazareno (a nephew of Ligaya Nazareno-Montano) married Natividad Jacobe Gonzalez. The Nazarenos had 5 children. Among them were Antonio, Dominador Jr., Arturo, Mario, and Corazon. Antonio (or Tony) was married to Victoria Vizcarra Amalingan. They were avid art collectors and lived in North Forbes with their 5 children — among whom are Antonio Jr. (now married to Cristina Aurelio Oben daughter of Rey Oben and Tessie Aurelio [the family that owns Wallem Shipping; Rey Oben was the son of the Dean of the UST Faculty of Law in the 1940s-1960s while Tessie Aurelio was from the family who owned Hotel Aurelio]), Cathy (now married to Ramon Victor Cojuangco Rivilla — son of the late Luis Tirso Rivilla and his widow, Lourdes Cojuangco-Rivilla), Rita (formerly a producer for Fox TV and NBC TV; one of the first Filipinas to win an Emmy Award), and Marv (married to Joao Feria Miranda — son of Chuki Feria-Miranda [daughter of the writer Dolores Stephens]).

Dominador Jr., a former congressman from Cavite City, now resides in the United States with his family. He is married to Foederis Alonso Arca.

Arturo is married to Encarnacion “Girlie” Cuyegkeng — daughter of the late Dr. Alfonso Cuyegkeng and Trinidad Casas-Cuyegkeng (the Casas-Cuyegkengs were an old Ermita family whose roots trace back to Biñan, Laguna as they were relatives of the Mercados of Biñan). Mario was married to Piat “Pearlie” Crisologo — daughter of the late Floro Crisologo (Congressman of Ilocos Sur) and Carmeling Crisologo (former Governor of Ilocos Sur).

The Chinese had been trading with the various, prosperous settlements of these Malay islands — the great kingdom of Tondo [ which spanned present-day Tondo district all the way northwards to much of Central Luzon; Rajah Lakandula was a grandson of the Sultan of Brunei, his mother was a daughter of the sultan; Rajah Lakandula is listed in the genealogy of the royal family of Brunei ], Maynilad, Namayan, Ternate, Bai’, Butuan Karaga, and others — for ages, not only centuries. Eons before the Portuguese explorer Fernao de Magalhaes / Fernando de Magallanes / Ferdinand Magellan and the Spanish “conquistadores” found themselves sailing into these islands in 1521, the Chinese traders had long been principal players in the prosperous economies of the early settlements. The great kingdom of Tondo, Maynilad, Namayan, Ternate, and Bai’ were principal settlements of the northern island. The early Malay cultures of the natives in those places were by no means primitive as the written accounts of the early Spanish invaders would have readers believe: In reality, there were developed languages [ as proven by the Laguna copperplate inscription ca. 900 A.D. at the National Museum ], numerical systems [ there was actually a term for “million” ], written literature [ as proven by the Laguna copperplate inscription ca. 900 A.D. ], oral traditions, and even various forms of art; there were costumes, materials, and accessories ascribed to every social class; there was spirituality, animistic communion with nature, perceptions of the unseen, belief in the afterlife; there were systems of government, laws and sanctions, social classes, etc.; even sexuality was advanced in the sense that there were specific tools [ penis rings, etc. ] and practices to enhance the sexual act. Butuan Karaga [ and its satellite Surigao ] in Mindanao, in particular, was an advanced and magnificent Southeast Asian culture, as proven by archaeological artifacts, specially ritual goldware and jewelry, of such high quality and sophisticated execution that compare favorably with similar specimens from the world’s earliest civilizations.

When the Spaniards took over Rajah Sulayman’s palisade of “Maynilad” in 1570 and established the walled city of Intramuros, they isolated the potentially troublesome Chinese residents in a ghetto called “Parian” just outside the walls “extra muros.” In 1594, Governor-General Luis Perez Dasmarinas established the settlement of Binondo [ originally “Minondoc” ] just across the Pasig River for “los Sangleyes” Chinese immigrants who had converted to Catholicism. During that time, the Spaniards forced Chinese immigrants to convert to Catholicism or be deported, or worse, be executed [ or massacred ]. Because there were hardly any women coming from China, the Chinese immigrant converts took to marrying native women, thus creating the “mestizo de Sangley” Chinese mestizo [ half-breed ]. It was in Binondo where the “mestizo de Sangley” Chinese mestizo community rose with unparalleled wealth and influence, and like their Chinese trader forebears, continued to play a leading role in the economic life of the islands from the Spanish colonization onwards for four hundred years until the present time…

TUASON [ originally SON TUA ]. During the British Occupation of Manila from 1762-64, a prosperous Chinese trader named Son Tua voluntarily or involuntarily assisted the Spaniards, led by Governor-General Simon de Anda, with his resources — financial, manpower, and logistical — in fighting and resisting the British invaders. Son Tua later adopted the Christian name of Antonio Maria Tuason. As a reward, he was given a large “encomienda” land grant by the Spaniards which comprised the vast area of present-day Diliman in Quezon City and the Marikina valley [ urban legend has it that as a reward for his anti-British services, the Spaniards gave Tuason all the land he could cover on horseback in one day, but he was so brilliant and shrewd that he stationed horses at several points so he could cover a far bigger swathe of land; however, the current Tuason descendants debunk that myth with more logical theories ]. Antonio Maria Tuason was awarded a “mayorazgo” noble estate with a tradition of primogeniture and his family was elevated to the Spanish “hidalguia” nobility — the only Filipino family to attain those signal honors. Two hundred years after the Chinese patriarch’s passing and his descendants are still members, if not principal players, of the country’s plutarchy [ plutocracy and oligarchy ].

Jose Severo Tuason married Teresa de la Paz.

Gonzalo Tuason married Isabel viuda de Gil de Sola.

PATERNO [ originally MING MONG LO, PATERNO MOLO DE SAN AGUSTIN ]. According to Pedro Alejandro Paterno [ whom serious Filipino historians tend to take lightly, but let’s give him the benefit of the doubt, since it is his family anyway ], the Paterno clan progenitor was Ming Mong Lo, a Chinese “apothecary” [ herbalist? “albulario”? ] from the mainland who settled in Binondo and married a Tagala of aristocratic lineage — she was supposed to be descended from the “Maguinoo of Luzon,” the ruling Malay dynasty before the arrival of the Spaniards in 1570. THAT was according to Pedro A. Paterno.

Paterno Agustin married Miguela Yamson y de la Cruz [ Michaela Yapson y de la Cruz ]. Miguela was the daughter of Juan Yapson and Maria de la Cruz. It was Maria de la Cruz who was listed as a descendant of Rajah Lakandula; it was through her that Pedro A. Paterno was descended from the pre-Spanish Malay royals of Tondo and Maynilad, the “Maguinoo of Luzon.” Paterno and Miguela had nine children: Matea, Paz, Anastacio, Feliciano, Lucas, Tomas, Maximino, Martina, and Juana. It was Maximino who first assumed the complete surname Molo Agustin Paterno, then his siblings followed.

ROXAS.

Mariano Roxas and Ana Maria de Ureta had three or five children.

Antonio Roxas married Lucina Arroyo and they had fifteen children, twelve sons and three daughters. According to their grandson Felix Roxas y Fernandez and great great grandson Salvador Araneta y Zaragoza, twelve of the Roxas-Arroyo family sat together on one dining table during meals in the paternal home on Calle San Vicente which fronted Chino Velasco’s bazaar [ the rich and influential Chinese businessman Mariano Velasco Chua Cheng Co ].

He was the first Europe-trained Filipino architect; he designed many famous churches, buildings, and residences during his professional prime: Santo Domingo church [ Intramuros ]; San Ignacio church [ Intamuros ]; Pedro Pablo Roxas residence [ Calle General Solano, San Miguel ]; Rafael Enriquez residence [ Calle San Sebastian, Quiapo ]. Felix and Cornelia had a son, Felix, and a daughter, Lucina. Felix Roxas y Fernandez married Carmen Moreno Lacalle; he became a longtime Mayor of Manila. Lucina Roxas y Fernandez married Enrique Brias de Coya.

Felipe Roxas y Arroyo married Raymunda Chuidian.

He was a painter of note. He lived and died in Paris, France.

Juan Roxas y Arroyo married Vicenta Reyes.

They were the parents of Francisco L. Roxas y Reyes, one of the 13 Martyrs of Bagumbayan in January 1897.

Rafael Roxas y Arroyo married Victoriana Manio.

Rafael married Victoriana Manio of Calumpit, Bulacan and settled there. They had several children: Fr. Manuel, Josefa, and Ana, et. al.. Josefa “Pepita” Roxas y Manio became famous in her time because King Norodom I of Cambodia fell in love and proposed marriage to her at a ball given in his honor by the Arnedos in Sulipan, Apalit, Pampanga. King Norodom I gave Josefa a “granada de oro” a pomegranate-shaped jewel and he gave her sister Ana a “concha” a conch shell-shaped jewel. Both pieces were set with diamonds, rubies, emeralds, sapphires, and pearls; both bore inscriptions from Norodom I to the recipient [ Ana’s was inscribed: “S.M. { Su Majestad } El Rey de Cambodia a la Sta. Ana Rojas” ]; judging from their late Victorian design, the jewels seemed to have been purchased from the prestigious “La Estrella del Norte” on the Escolta in Manila.

It is also thought that the various Roxases in Bulacan are actually descended from Rafael Roxas and Victoriana Manio.

*Encarnacion Roxas. It is thought that Encarnacion Roxas — the “camarera” caretaker of the “Nuestra Senora del Santisimo Rosario de La Naval de Manila” at the Santo Domingo Church and the chairperson of the canonical coronation committee in 1907 — was a sister of the famous Roxas y Arroyo brothers and was one of the three daughters of Antonio Roxas and Lucina Arroyo of Binondo.

[ Antonio Roxas was a brother of Domingo Roxas de Ureta who married Maria Saturnina Ubaldo and had three children — Margarita, Jose Bonifacio, and Mariano who spawned the present-day Roxas-de Ayala-Zobel-Soriano clan. ]

GORRICHO.

Jose Damaso Gorricho, a quartermaster of the Spanish army, married Ciriaca Santos of Imus, Cavite. Her fortunate marriage to a Spanish army man paved the way for the hardworking Ciriaca to start a business by supplying “zacate” hay for the many horses of the Spanish cavalry in Intramuros; she became known as a “zacatera.”

As her “zacate” business flourished, Ciriaca Santos de Gorricho purchased land across the Pasig River from Intramuros where she could grow the “zacate” hay she supplied to the cavalry. Years later, urban development fortunately sprawled to that particular stretch of Gorricho land which eventually became the Escolta, the premier commercial district of Manila.

At the prime of their prosperous lives, Jose Damaso and Ciriaca de Gorricho owned both sides of the Escolta, from the Puente de San Gabriel all the way to Calle Soda.

The Pardo de Tavera are, like the de Ayala, an aristocratic Spanish family. Both venerable families can trace their lineages to the “Reconquista” of Ferdinand and Isabella and even way beyond; both families are related by blood and marriage, however distant, to the most aristocratic as well as the royal Spanish families like the Alba, Medinaceli, et. al..

The nobleman Julian Pardo de Tavera and his wife Juana Gomez Artucha arrived in Manila from Spain in 1825. Eschewing the Pardo de Tavera tradition of eminent careers in the judiciary, Julian became a lieutenant in the Spanish army. Julian and Juana Pardo de Tavera had four children: Felix, _____, _____, and Joaquin.

The two Pardo de Tavera brothers married two de Gorricho y Santos sisters, the daughters of the industrialist Jose Damaso Gorricho and the highly successful entrepreneur Ciriaca Santos: Felix Pardo de Tavera married Juliana de Gorricho; his younger brother Joaquin Pardo de Tavera married Gertrudis de Gorricho.

Joaquin Pardo de Tavera married Gertrudis “Tula” de Gorricho and had three children: Eloisa [ married Daniel Earnshaw ], Beatrice [ married Manuel de Yriarte ], and Joaquin [ married Paz Azaola ].

*Years before Joaquin Pardo de Tavera married Gertrudis de Gorricho, he had 2 “hija natural” from a lady in Bicol. One of them, Macaria “Nena” Lopez, married a Spanish soldier _____ Madrigal and became the mother of the tycoon Vicente Lopez Madrigal, who married Susana Paterno of Manila. Thus, the Madrigal-Paterno are also of Pardo de Tavera descent.

ARROYO.

REYES.

The rich Vicenta Reyes married Juan Roxas. They were the parents of Francisco L. Roxas y Reyes, one of the 13 Martyrs of Bagumbayan in 1896.

Capitan Francisco “Kikoy” Reyes married Macaria “Kayang” Baptista.

Francisco Reyes y Baptista married Adriana del Rosario [ of the family that owned “Funeraria Paz” ]. Their daughter Marina del Rosario Reyes married the architect Pablo Antonio [ honored as a National Artist for Architecture ].

There is an extant “letras y figuras” painting of “Balvino Mauricio” which depicts his Calle Anloague mansion. His house was supposed to have been the model for Capitan Tiago’s residence in Jose Rizal’s novel “Noli Me Tangere.”

[ There was another Alejandro Roces from Gijon, Asturias, Spain who settled in Iloilo and married Francisca Ortizo. Alejandro Roces was the progenitor of the Roces de Iloilo. ]

SY CIP. According to the oral history of the Sy-Quia family, the first Sy Quia [ Vicente Ruperto Romero Sy Quia + 09 January 1894 ] arrived from Amoy, China with his cousin, Sy Cip. Sy Quia did business between Manila and Vigan, Ilocos Sur; he married Petronila Encarnacion of Vigan in 1853. His cousin Sy Cip chose to settle in Cagayan. Sy Cip’s descendants found their way southwards to Binondo, Manila where they became successful traders.

TAMBUNTING.

Ildefonso Cosiam Tambunting.

TEE HAN KEE.

Claudio Teehankee.

A Teehankee married a Yutivo lady, thus linking the prominent intellectual family to one of Binondo’s great merchant families.

DY BUNCIO.

DEE PI PAI / DY HAN KIA / DEE C. CHUAN.

CHAI ZI SHEN. MARIANO VELASCO CHUA CHENG CO.

Mariano Velasco Chua Chengco.

The three-hectare family compound with several mansions still exists in China. The mansions are highly unusual because the materials used — the ipil, kamagong, molave, tindalo / balayong hardwoods and the terra cotta roof tiles — were imported to China from Las Islas Filipinas, notably Basilan island, which was the Velasco family’s copra plantation.

Mariano Velasco Chua Chengco owned “Bazaar Velasco,” one of the first and largest of Filipino department stores during that time. [ The current “Plaza Fair” department store is a descendant of “Bazaar Velasco.” ] Mariano was prominent in the wealthy circles of the city, be it the Chinese, the Spanish mestizo, or the Spanish peninsular.

On a contemporary note, a Ting daughter-in-law of Mariano Velasco Chua Chengco was one of the early financiers of the SM ShoeMart department store [ turned mall empire ] of taipan Henry Sy Sr..

CARLOS PALANCA TAN QUIEN SEN.

CARLOS PALANCA TAN GUIN LAY. Chinese immigrant; no blood relation to Carlos Palanca Tan Quien Sen; he became a godson of the latter.

LAUCHENGCO. Originally LAU CHANG CO.

Lau Cheng Co was the owner of the biggest “carruaje” dealership in Manila before the advent of the automobiles. He was rich and counted Andres Soriano Sr. and Carlos Palanca Tan Guin Lay as his friends. He was a collector of beautiful things and his Binondo residence was filled with French furniture, Chinese furniture, Meissen and Nymphenburg German porcelain, Bohemian glass, English silver, and other prized objects. Unfortunately, everything was destroyed during World War II.

LICHAUCO. Originally LY CHAU CO.

From “Lola Grande!” by James B. Reuter, PhilStar, 10/18/08:

“”The original “Lola Grande” was Cornelia Lau Chang Co, born in the Chinese area of Binondo, in old Manila, in 1820. She married Tomas Ly Chau Co, who came to the Philippines with the last wave of Chinese immigrants in the 19th century.”

“Tomas died. Doña Cornelia had to provide for her family of five children, alone. She started a business, making grass mats—tampipis—and other products of palm frond—buri. She supplied these to small retailers.”

“She was methodical, hard-working, efficient, excellent in mathematics. She began transporting unhusked rice, from the producing provinces in Central Luzon to Manila. She became a licensed transporter of rice — a consignado — the fifth ranking consignado of rice from Pangasinan to Manila.”

“Gradually she was able to acquire rice lands in Pangasinan. She bought and sold raw sugar. She started a faraderia, a simple process of producing raw sugar crystals. She sold these, in quantity, to British and American export companies. She built houses in Metro Manila, in Santa Ana. She established an orphan asylum — the Asilo de Huerfanos — for the children of those who died in the great cholera epidemics of 1882 and 1889. A tiny little woman, she was far ahead of her time.””

YU CHENG CO.

The Yu Cheng Co family descends from the Chinese wife of the clan progenitor Yu Tiao Qui.

According to the Yuchengco descendants, from the 1850s to the 1890s, the patriarch Yu Tiao Qui owned most of the commercial real estate in Santa Cruz district, as well as the entire end of Calle Gandara there.

Enrique Yuchengco married his first cousin _____ Tiaoqui.

Dr. Luisa, Vicencia, Dr. Aurora, and Ambassador Alfonso Yuchengco. Luisa finished her medical studies at the University of Shanghai. Vicencia “Vic” is a very successful entrepreneur who engaged in several businesses; she helped her father Enrique establish the family’s insurance business. Aurora is a medical doctor in Hong Kong. Alfonso finished his M.B.A. at Columbia University.

YU TIAO QUI.

The Tiaoqui family descends from the Filipina wife of the clan progenitor Yu Tiao Qui.

YU TI VO. The Yutivo hardware business was established by 3 Yu first cousins: Yu Ti Vo, Yu Tiong Cuan [ an adopted son ], and _____.

Yu Khe Thai. Yu Khe Thai was the eldest son of Yu Ti Vo by his first wife. Yu Khe Thai inherited the leadership of the Yutivo hardware business from his father, Yu Ti Vo.

Yu Khe Thai had 2 elder sisters who married 2 Sycip brothers. Anna Yu married Washington Sycip and Helen Yu married David Sycip.

Yu Khe Jin. Yu Khe Jin was the eldest son of Yu Ti Vo by his second wife; he was the younger half-brother of Yu Khe Thai. He observed that many decisions in the family business were being made by the 2 Sycip brothers-in-law of his elder half-brother Yu Khe Thai, so he challenged the latter for the leadership of the hardware business. Yu Khe Thai relinquished the leadership of the business to him. As a result, Yu Khe Jin’s descendants are the ones who inherited the Yutivo hardware business, not those of Yu Khe Thai’s.

ONGPIN. Roman Ongpin was a leader of the Chinese community.

CU – UNJIENG.

CUYEGKENG.

According to Antonio Casas Cuyegkeng:

[ This article is based from childhood stories, documents from the files of Dr. Jose Cuyegkeng, as provided by Ms. Mary Cuyegkeng Fontanilla, and the book “The Life and Family of Guillermo A. Cu Unjieng” by and from correspondence with Ms. Josephine M. T. Khu. ]

CU YEG KENG (Antonio Cuyegkeng) or Kenga (as he was commonly known) was from Cuoshang (or Cushang, in the local pronunciation) village, the same village as the Cu Unjieng’s, was located in Jinjiang (or Chinkiang in the old spelling) county of Fujian province. However, Shandong (or Shantung in the old spelling) province is reputed to be the ultimate origins of those bearing the Cu surname. Jinjiang County no longer exists because the local administrative units were reorganized in the 1980s and 1990s.

In the late 1890’s, Taigong as Guillermo Cu Unjieng was commonly known, who would have been in his late 20’s and quite well-established, could have brought Kenga with him to Manila (Taigong could have been brought to Manila by Cu Yeg Keng’s father, then Taigong later returned the favor and brought Kenga to Manila on the former’s return from a trip to China). Kenga was in his mid-teens (a normal age for Chinese boys to be brought over to the Philippines).

Kenga was not an immediate cousin of Taigong, but a distant relative–about five times removed. Kenga was a relative from the same village, who was about 13 years younger than Taigong. It is clear from the middle Chinese character “YI” of Cu Yeg Keng’s name that, Cu Yeg Keng is one generation below Taigong, whose middle Chinese character is “YUN”. Taigong is from the 19th generation, while Cu Yeg Keng is from the 20th generation of males in the village.

Considering that Taigong went back to China to get married in 1890 and the succeeding trips were already in the 1900s, Taigong was about 33+ years of age when he brought Kenga to Manila. Kenga would, then, have been a little over 20 years old. Therefore, Kenga was born around late 1870’s. His mother was Ong O Ken.

Kenga managed the Cu Unjieng and Company up to the late 1920’s. Kenga, as well, had set up his own textile and other goods business, which Kenga operated under his personal name, Cu Yeg Keng Trading. Cu Yeg Keng Trading, which was engaged in the textile business, was located at 127 Nueva St., Manila.

In 1929, Cu Unjieng and Company expanded thru the merger with Cu Yeg Keng Trading and Khu Yek Chiong Company, owned by Guillermo’s oldest son, Yek Chiong, with Cu Unjieng and Company as the surviving entity. However, the merger collapsed a year or two after it occurred. Or, at least, Khu Yek-chiong withdrew from the merger at that time. Indications are that Cu Yeg Keng Trading also withdrew from the consortium. While Cu Unjieng and Company operated until the Japanese occupation, but not thereafter, Cu Yeg Keng Trading continued on after the war.

Kenga suddenly collapsed, probably from a heart attack, and died on October 11, 1948 at the maternal house of the Chinese family, believed to be in 259 – 261 Juan Luna St., Binondo, Manila. He would have been about 73 years old,

In the Extra-Judicial Settlement of the Estate of Antonio Cuyegkeng, the second son of the Chinese wife, Chua Sac, Cu Uh Khun (Florentino), was named administrator of Cu Yeg Keng Trading, as the eldest son, Cu Uh Po (Manuel), had already died.

At the time of Kenga’s death, Cu Uh Po (Manuel) was survived by this wife, Lim Chong Goan, and sons Leoncio and Inocencio Lim Cu. Leoncio had an only child, Gilbert Uy Cuyegkeng.

In her later years, Chua Sac was believed to have stayed with the family of Benito, somewhere in the San Miguel area near San Beda College.

In the early 1900’s, Kenga married Margarita (Tita) Gomez Mangahas, a Filipina from Angat, Bulacan. They had 11 children, four (4) boys and seven (7) girls. However, two (2) of the boys died before reaching the age of five, and one (1) girl passed away in her teens.

The eldest, Leoncia (Lucy) Mangahas Cu, was born on September 12, 1906, and got married to Benito Enriquez Lim, no known relation with Benito P. Lim the husband of Lourdes Chua Cu. Lucy was followed by Patricia Mangahas Cu, married to Pedro Yangco Uy-tioco; Emerenciana (Miling) Mangahas Cu, who got widowed in 1945 when a bomb killed Wilfredo Tan Beng Yu and their eldest child, Maria Luisa Cu Yu, remarried Manuel Hunchiong Ty; Tomas Mangahas Cu, who died at the age of 3; Concepcion (Chit) Mangahas Cu, married to Daniel Uy Tan; Alfonso Ma. Mangahas Cuyegkeng, married to Trinidad Almeda Casas; Rosario (Charing) Mangahas Cuyegkeng, married to Antonio Silvestre Trinidad; Jose Mangahas Cuyegkeng, married to Elena Barbara Resurrecion Ines; Teresita Mangahas Cuyegkeng, who died at the age of 15; Antonio Mangahas Cu, who died at the age of 4; and Rafaela (Fely) Mangahas Cuyegkeng, married to Eduardo Limgenco Dy Buncio.

The maternal house of the Filipino family was in 651 – 655 Benavides St., Binondo, Manila. The house passed on to Jose Mangahas Cuyegkeng and his family.

As to the family name, the mestizo children of Cu Yeg Keng and Cu Unjieng did what so many Chinese mestizo families did, and used the entire name of their founding ancestor in the Philippines as their surname, rather than just Chinese surname itself (in this case “Cu”). When Cu Unjieng acquired the personal Spanish name of Guillermo, his full Chinese name (where “Cu” was the surname and “Un Jieng” the personal name) just naturally got used as a surname. Guillermo’s middle name, Araullo, was the family name of his baptismal godfather, Manuel G. Araullo. The same thing must have happened when Cu Yeg Keng adopted the personal name “Antonio.”

Kenga must have applied for a Filipino citizenship, under the US Commonwealth, sometime in the late 1917’s to early 1918’s. No documents have been found to show when the use of the name “Antonio” and family name “Cuyegkeng” started, as well as who determined who can use the said family name.

Based on the Extra-Judicial Settlement document, it was only the last four (4) children (Benito, Maria Luisa, Maria Marcela, and Vicenta) of Chua Sac who carried the family name Cuyegkeng. Of the 11 children of Tita, five (5) (Alfonso, Rosario, Jose, Teresita, and Rafaela) used the Cuyegkeng family name.

Cu Uh Chua (Andres), who was born on June 29, 1917, used the family name “CU” till the mid-1960. His family started using ‘CUYEGKENG” around 1965, when Dr. Andres Cu Uh Chua was started to being referred to as Dr. Andres Cuyegkeng. On the other hand, Alfonso (6th child of Tita), who was born on March 15, 1918, and the siblings after him, used “CUYEGKENG” from the very beginning.

An oddity occurred in the case of Antonio, 10th child of Tita. When his remains, together with that of Tita, Tomas Cu and Teresita Cuyegkeng, were transferred from the Chinese Cemetery to the Most Holy Redeemer Church Crypts, and finally to the crypts at Santuario de San Antonio, Makati City, the name on the grave marker had always been Antonio Cu. Tita’s name in the grave marker was Margarita Cuyegkeng. Upon Tita’s request, the members of the Filipino family provided Tita and their siblings a separate mausoleum from where Kenga and Cha Sac are buried in the Manila Chinese Cemetery.

It is understandable that Tomas used the family name CU, as he was born in 1914 (died on April 1, 1917), the eldest son and 4th child of Tita. Teresita, the 9th child of Tita, who was born in 1923 and died on March 1, 1938, had the family name CUYEGKENG. The question remains as to why Antonio, who was born in 1924 and died on June 17, 1928, used CU as a family name.

SIY CONG BIENG.

CO BAN KIAT. One of Binondo’s most influential and enduring business dynasties.

LIM TUA CO. Destileria Limtuaco.

Bonifacio Limtuaco.

Carlos Limtuaco.

Lim Chay Seng. The Lim Chay Seng family lived in an elegant residence along Taft avenue furnished with magnificent Chinese furniture and porcelains.

James Limpe.

SOMOZA [ originally YAP TUI CO ].

Yap Tui Co was a sugar trader who came from Amoy, China. He married the Chinese mestiza Espiridiona Ysidra Cua-Peco from Maragondon, Cavite and settled there. Yap Tui Co adopted the Christian name Faustino Somoza. Years later when he passed away, his remains were brought back to China.

Faustino and Espiridiona Somoza had three children: Vicente, Esperanza, and Mauricio.

Vicente Somoza y Cua-Peco. He was a delegate to the Malolos Congress of 1898; he was one of the 92 signatories of the Malolos Constitution. He was a co-founder of the “Camara de Comercio Filipino” [ the current Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines Foundation, Inc. ]. He settled in M.H. del Pilar Street in Ermita with his wife.

Esperanza Somoza y Cua-Peco. She was a convent “interna” who later became a spinster. She was a pianist who gave lessons and she lived in the Quiapo district.

Mauricio Somoza y Cua-Peco. He was a translator who worked for the Monte de Piedad bank and the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation. Mauricio was known for his palatial residence in Binondo, designed by Tomas Arguelles, which fronted three streets — Calle Ongpin, Calle Misericordia, and Calle Kipuja. It was destroyed during World War II.

Tondo, Manila is the place furthest from Social Manila’s mindset [ with the possible exception of the hugely popular 168 mall where even Madame Imelda Romualdez-Marcos shops for amusing nonconsequentials ]. But the place has an ancient, eminent, even venerable history…

The ancient, great kingdom of Tondo spanned what is now present-day Tondo district all the way northwards to much of Central Luzon. Before the Spanish colonization of these islands in the late 1500s, the kingdom of Tondo, by its sheer size and economic importance, dominated the lesser ones of Maynilad, Namayan, Ternate, and Bai’. Rajah Lakandula, the great lord of the kingdom during the Spanish invasion of 1570, was a grandson of the Sultan of Brunei, his mother was a daughter of the sultan. To this day, Rajah Lakandula of Tondo is listed in the genealogy of the royal family of Brunei.

On 18 August 1900, the American Edith Moses, the wife of Commissioner Bernard Moses, wrote: “Tondo is a quarter as near like Chinatown as you can picture it. It is the dirtiest and most crowded part of Manila, but in spite of that fact some of the richest Filipino families reside there.”

ABREU. Flaviano Abreu married Saturnina Salazar, a very rich Chinese mestiza heiress, and they resided in a large “bahay-na-bato” on Calle Sagunto [ later Calle Santo Cristo; present-day Santo Cristo Street ].

CABANGIS. The Cabangis family owned the entire island of Balut in Tondo. Tomas Cabangis was an “ilustrado”; he was with Jose Rizal and the other “ilustrados” in Spain during the 1880s.

DE BELEN. Eugenio de Belen and his wife Maximina Meneses, “Capitan Genio” and “Capitana Simang,” lived in a three-storey “bahay na bato” which fronted three streets in front of the Tondo church.

DE SANTOS. Although the very rich de Santos family were famous for being landowners with vast rice “haciendas” in the tens of thousands of hectares in Nueva Ecija, their clan progenitor was the 1700s Spaniard Prudencio de Santos, a Spanish army officer who settled in Manila and acquired a wide swathe of what is now the present-day Divisoria entrepot in Tondo. [ There is an extant oil portrait, copied from a daguerreotype { which was in turn copied from an early portrait }, of the Spaniard Prudencio de Santos by the great artist Fabian de la Rosa, dated 1931, from the once highly-distinguished but sadly dispersed Dr. Arturo de Santos Collection; it is now in the Atty. Jose Maria Trenas Collection ].

[ The parents of Roman Santos y Rodriguez, founder of Prudential Bank, were Hilarion Santos of Manila and Marta Rodriguez y Tuason of Bacolor, Pampanga. According to archival records, the original surname of Hilarion Santos was actually “de Santos.” There is a possibility that he could have been descended from the de Santos family of Tondo. ]

LOPEZ DEL CASTILLO.

The Lopez del Castillo are descended from the Cabangis family.

MANOTOK.

MENESES.

PANTANGCO.

The Spanish-Chinese mestiza Mercedes Pantangco y Simon married Macario Rufino y Santos — descendant of an Italian immigrant named Ruffino — and they had seven children: Manuel, Ernesto, Vicente, Ester, Rafael, and two more daughters. Macario passed away early, leaving Mercedes to raise her children singlehandedly. She sent her sons to study at the De La Salle College and her daughter to the nearby Saint Scholastica’s College.

The siblings Ernesto, Vicente, Ester, and Rafael Rufino — the acronym EVER — established a flourishing chain of cinemas which started a business empire that diversified to banking and real estate development.

SALAZAR. The Chinese mestiza Saturnina Salazar inherited a great fortune from moneylending by her industrious Chinese father Silvestre Salazar, known as “Nor Beteng” to all of Divisoria. She married Flaviano Abreu and they lived in a large “bahay-na-bato” on Calle Sagunto. Their elder daughter Guadalupe “Neneng” Abreu y Salazar became the second wife of Felipe “Ipe” Buencamino y Siojo [ Sr. ] of San Miguel de Mayumo, Bulacan. Ipe and Neneng had two sons: Philip and Victor. Philip married Mary Romero; Victor married Dolores Arguelles. Vic’s and Loleng’s elder son Philip Arguelles Buencamino Jr. married Zenaida “Nini” Aragon Quezon, daughter of President Manuel Luis Molina Quezon and First Lady Aurora Molina Aragon; their younger son Victor Arguelles Buencamino Jr. married Blesilda “Blessie” Ocampo of Old Quiapo.

PEDRO SY-QUIA Y ENCARNACION. The affluent migrant businessman Vicente Ruperto Romero Sy Quia [ + 09 January 1894 ] of Am Thau, Amoy, China married Petronila Encarnacion of Vigan, Ilocos Sur in 1853. Their second son Pedro Sy-Quia y Encarnacion married Asuncion Michels de Champourcin y Ventura of Bacolor, Pampanga in the 1870s and built a large, palatial “bahay na bato” in Tondo [ the Sy-Quia-Michels de Champourcin property was expropriated during the American regime and was converted to the Tutuban Railway Station; the original facade survives as the present-day Tutuban mall in Divisoria ]. Pedro and Asuncion had three sons: Pedro Jr., Gonzalo, and Leopoldo [ surnamed Sy-Quia y Michels de Champourcin ]. Pedro Jr. married Caridad Arguelles Cruz; Gonzalo married Ramona Vargas; Leopoldo married Maria Chanco.

TIOCO.

TRINIDAD.

The 19th century Filipino master painter Antonio Malantic, whose surviving works are very few, was famous in his time for his portraits of wealthy Tondo residents such as the families mentioned above.

“The Imperial oral tradition says that the family is descended from 2 brothers shipwrecked in the San Bernardino Strait in the early 17th century and landed in Manito. The story is probably true a most of the land in that town belongs to the Imperials. They eventually moved down to Daraga, Albay and one is said to have migrated to Baao in Camarines Sur. Luis Dato, a UP historian said that he saw a baptismal record of an Imperial in Baao Church dated 1635. When I was going to work on the Imperial Family Tree in the 1990s, the church records were no longer available as the whole church had been burned. The present records we have of the Legazpi Imperials date from the 1790s, same as that of those in Naga. I’m still working on trying to connect all the Imperials in the country, including the ones in Ilocos and Aklan. I have already connected the ones in Batanes, who were originally from Naga. Incidentally, the Imperials in all the provinces were already cabezas in the late 1700s. My great-great-grandfather, Don Sinforozo Imperial became Gobernadorcillo of Daraga in 1850 and Gobernadorcillo of Legazpi in 1852. All his sons became officials of Legazpi and Albay towns in the late 19th century, while his daughter, Theodora, married Gen. Ludovico Arejola, the commander of the revolutionary forces in Camarines Sur.”

JAUCIAN. The Jaucian family were originally from Jaro, Iloilo. They transferred residence to Bicol because of their increasing involvement in the “abaca” hemp export business.

According to Martin I. Tinio, Jr.:

“The Jaucian Family is descended from Domingo Jaucian a sangley cristiano who was baptized in Molo in 1801, the same year that Domingo Consing, progenitor of the Consing Family of Molo was baptized. The parish priest at that time was an Araneta, said to be the progenitor of the Araneta clan.

Domingo’s presumed grandson, Mariano,(I still haven’t really determined the connection as I haven’t completed my research of the Molo baptismal records) migrated to Daraga, Albay and married a Bicolana. Accompanying him were his cousins and in-laws who founded the Anson, Locsin and Yulo families of Albay. These families intermarried among themselves for almost a century, just as they did in Iloilo. Mariano’s grandson, Cirilo, became the richest man in Bicol at the turn-of-the-century and was called ‘The Abaca King’ of Bicol. He was the first Capitan Municipal of Guinobatan in 1894, when the title of Gobernadorcillo was changed to that upon the promulgation of the Maura Decree of 1893. In the confidential report to the Alalde Mayor or Provincial Governor of the parish priest regarding the qualifications of the candidates for the election of gobernadorcillo in the late 1880s, the current parish priest stated that Balbino Jaucian, youngest brother of Cirilo, was the richest man in Daraga. He served as gobernadorcillo for 2 terms and refused to serve another. Andres, another brother who migrated to Libmanan, Camarines Sur, also became the biggest landowner and the richest man in that town, the largest in the proince after Naga. He also became Capitan of Libmanan. The Jaucian family was the biggest landowning family in Albay and was considered the richest in Bicol until the mid-20th century.”

ALCALA. The Alcala were the original, “principalia” family of Sariaya town. It was from them that the other rich families of the town radiated.

Teresa Alcala de Gala.

Vanity of vanities: When Teresa Alcala de Gala passed away in prewar, she left strict instructions that her coffin should be placed above a high funeral bier, much higher in fact than royal catafalques, just so her peasant workers and mourners could not “look down” at her in the coffin. [ One has to see the extant photographs to believe the sight! ]

GALA.

Moises Gala y Alcala.

Avelina Eleazar y Ordoveza, de Gala.

RODRIGUEZ.

Margarita Rodriguez.

ENRIQUEZ.

ARGUELLES. The Arguelles were originally from San Juan, Batangas, which was only separated from Sariaya, Tayabas by the river. The Arguelles were initially “hacenderos” who made a second huge fortune off their gold mines in nearby Mindoro island.

Amparo Arguelles y Ochoa, de Villa.

DE VILLA. Like the Arguelles, the de Villa were also originally from San Juan, Batangas.

FLORENTINO. The Florentino family was renowned among the old Vigan families — even after the emergence of the Donato, the Sy-Quia, and the Quema families in the early 1800s — to have the grandest landholdings in the forms of rice lands, tobacco plantations, and virgin forest lands stretching tens of thousands of hectares from Ilocos Sur to Aparri.

The family also produced the lady writer Leona Florentino.

Another famous descendant of the Florentino family of Vigan was National Hero Jose Protacio Alonso Rizal, who descended directly from the Mercado-Rizal of Calamba [ and Binan ] and the Alberto-Alonso y Realonda of Binan, Laguna. His grandmother was a Florentino de Vigan.